DISTRICT
Ann Arbor
WEBSITE
https://www.facebook.com/VOTEjohnbensonAAPS.BOE
Campaign Phone
734-474-6863
Number of years as resident
7
I am a senior manager at a $60Billion pension serving 600,000 union auto worker retirees.
Raised by Sociology PhDs, but I am a 25-year professional of finance and governance. This background mix has helped me solve financial and transparency issues for many different businesses and especially for a variety of stakeholders.
I work with global teams with an array of cultural, language and religious backgrounds. I pride myself in understanding progress requires collaboration across all backgrounds.
Expert in technology evaluation and training young professionals in technology, but i think we’ve deployed tech too far and costly in AAPS.
Endorsed by the teacher union and have public comments detailing AAPS revenue vs teacher pay mismatch.
Our kids need our teachers. Our teachers need a fair budget. Showing multi year revenue trends versus total compensation to collective bargaining staff (teachers, OPs, principals) with alerts if they are lagging as they have been recently. This is critical for retention.
Spending across all other categories I would want strictly held under revenue so it's the first source of building the required emergency savings for state mandated fund balance.
To do it: Require individual purchase requests history compared to multi year revenue so it’s clear if it has been giving or taking from our fund balance. If they're also presented in standard publicly viewable reports, and not just discussed out loud like now, a lot would be resolved financially.
Teacher retention through better passing of our revenue to their total compensation. Our kids need a stable teaching core that is not overly stretched.
We also need to reduce access to computer screens, which have been deployed for far too much use and is likely detracting from critical reading development, as well as group/social problem solving, team building and other functional role play learning and growth.
I have an extensive background in big picture budget and spend review practices, target frameworks, governance and related collaborations across wide arrays of stakeholders. This may be the single most important skill our school board needs right now, and there is not currently, nor has there been recently a Board member or candidate showing close to my ability in this area.
Budget priorities:
1. Request budget forecast scenarios around cutting back private contracts, not just cutting teachers or schools.
2. Have all private contract renewals presented with their historic growth rates versus teacher comps and total revenue.
3. Mandate all private contracts and supplies purchases cannot as whole grow more than slightly below revenue.
1. Structured transparency. Meetings especially involving Board policies and financial requests, do not have enough depth in what is being shared and showed to the public in either meeting materials or in view during the meetings themselves. Doing so would create a bridge for the public to understand board actions and decision criteria in consistent ways, and should also help the Board and Administration avoid missing check list items for those discussions.
2. Community engagement. I would look to form advisement committees, particularly for groupings of board policies, to both provide a regular public engagement process and have available community advisement at meetings when particular policies are in focus. = Time saving, trust building
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WRITE-IN?
No
DISTRICT
Ann Arbor
PHONE
(231)903-1052
WEBSITE
votedonwilkerson.com
Campaign Phone
(231)903-1052
Number of years as resident
17
I faithfully served a year and a half on the AAPS Board as Treasurer and Trustee, focused on financial stability. I hold a Master of Accounting from Ross School of Business and work as an audit, finance, and compliance executive with my CIA, CISA, and IIA Quality Assessor certifications, financial expertise no other candidate brings. I’ve completed 100 credit hours through Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB), earning their School Finance Certification and a Level 2 Merit Award. I also bring 15+ years volunteering in AAPS as a coach, PTO leader, and special education advocate. That combination of financial expertise, board experience, and deep community roots makes me ready to lead on day one, at a time when the board needs it most.
My goals are the three priorities driving my campaign: financial stability, a community-built strategic vision, and restoring trust through transparency. I'll push the board to build long-term budget projections and define a competitive teacher salary schedule, so we negotiate from shared data instead of conflict. I'll connect our strategic plan directly to the budget, so community priorities and spending actually match. And I'll advocate for consistent, proactive communication with families and staff, so decisions are understood even when difficult. This requires building consensus with fellow board members, administration, and the community, and bringing the financial and governance experience I already have to that work from day one.
Improving achievement starts with meeting each student where they are and making sure our curriculum meets their actual learning needs. I supported and approved the district's recently rolled out science of reading materials as a board member, and I want to see that same evidence-based approach continue to guide our instructional decisions, but include with better roll-out support. At the same time, achievement depends on having the right people in place. We need to prioritize filling critical staff positions, including paraprofessionals and special education teachers, so every student who needs additional support actually gets it. Strong curriculum and strong staffing have to move together. One without the other leaves students behind.
My top budget priority is stabilizing our fund balance for the long term and ensuring our operations are sustainable based on our current funding levels, not based on hope for future revenue that may not materialize. That means building real multi-year budget projections, being honest about the gap between spending and a sustainable path, and making disciplined, prioritized choices rather than one-time fixes. It also means building a competitive, sustainable salary schedule into that plan, including pay increases for our paraprofessionals and special education staff, so we're not negotiating contracts in crisis mode every few years. A financially healthy district today is what allows us to keep investing in students tomorrow.
The two most serious problems are financial instability paired with a lack of strategic planning, and a breakdown in trust and communication. We lack long-term budget projections and a viable operating structure given our funding outlook, and we've never defined a competitive teacher salary schedule or quantified the gap, leading to crisis-mode negotiations. We also only began real strategic planning this summer, a year later than we should have. On trust, we need consistent, two-way communication and transparency, sharing data and goals proactively and keeping the community engaged year-round. My goal is to bring the financial expertise and experience to build the planning we're missing, and push for communication that rebuilds confidence.
